Polizei- und Justizzentrum Zürich, Law enforcement complex in Zurich, Switzerland.
The Police and Justice Center Zurich is an administrative complex that brings together police departments, prosecution offices, the Institute of Legal Medicine, and enforcement facilities in one location. The facility houses multiple specialized departments for investigations, analysis, and scientific support in criminal proceedings.
The site, the eastern part of the former goods station between the main station tracks, the Hohlstrasse and the Hardbrücke, was chosen in 2000 after earlier plans for the Kasernenareal failed. Voters approved the project in 2003 and again in September 2011 after the cantonal council blocked funding. Construction by architect Theo Hotz began in 2017; the shell was finished in 2019, cantonal police operations started in January 2022, and the building was inaugurated on 28 October 2022.
The complex consolidates the cantonal police, the public prosecutor's office, the forensic institute, the police school and parts of the compulsory measures court, previously spread across 30 sites. Its four planted inner courtyards sit inside a closed 280-metre-long block. The building is not open to the public, so the consolidation is visible mainly from the surrounding streets and the Hardbrücke.
The complex occupies the eastern part of the former freight yard, bounded by the main station tracks, the Zurich–Chur line, Hohlstrasse and the Hardbrücke. The building is not open to the public, so there is no visitor entrance; the site can only be viewed from the surrounding streets and the Hardbrücke.
The complex was designed by architect Theo Hotz, and construction began in 2017. Its natural stone facade is protected against graffiti and other paint soiling up to a height of 28 metres. A crime museum was originally planned as part of the building but was not realised.
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